This was my intended post for last Saturday, but due to lightning storm we were Internet-less.
Saturday 21 July 2007
I am typing this entry to my blog in word, because I currently do not have Internet access. It has been an okay week.
The week started well. Sunday was a beautiful day. Nathan, the middle Nard child, had a small birthday party at Chuck E Cheese on Sunday. After the party, Pooh and I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was good, though, as always, it could not compete with the intricacies of the book. This was a much better movie experience than what I had to endure through Ratatouille.
I went back to work on Monday and was bombarded with endless email. I’m still not sure I have completely read through all of the email I received while on vacation. It doesn’t help that I am currently a member of at least 5 email work groups (not by choice.) My bosses provided me with my priorities very early on Monday. It really stunk because my top priority was to fix a rack of equipment in South Africa. This did not mean that I get to fly to SA to actually work directly on the equipment and figure out what’s wrong. Instead, I am required to attempt to troubleshoot the equipment remotely through a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch that proceeded to fail by the lunchtime of that day. I have been trying to find an adequate replacement for that switch and get it approved through purchasing since that time (I have also been trying to catch up on all of my other duties.) They are currently threatening to send me SA to fix the rack; I feign distress.
Monday evening D got adventurous and made Doro wat and Injera with a side of broccoli. He followed the recipes very closely and the results were so delicious. I have to admit that I am a fairly picky eater and truly expected not to enjoy Ethiopian food, but I was very surprised how scrumptious what I have had so far actually is. I really look forward to finding a local Ethiopian restaurant to try more dishes. Pooh loved it also, but we had to rinse the Doro wat sauce off of the chicken for The Bean to eat it.
Tuesday went through as a blur. That evening D took Pooh to Black on Black Poetry Night at a restaurant in a nearby town. He has been doing that most Tuesday nights this summer. D video tapes it so that I can hear the Poetry that she reads. She actually writes some a pretty amazing poetry and she has no fear when getting up on stage to read it to the large audience at the restaurant. I think it’s really amazing that she has that much confidence at thirteen. I think I would struggle with doing the same and I am thirty. I have asked the Nard’s to allow Leigh to sleepover next Tuesday so that I can go see Pooh give her last reading before we take her back to Kentucky. I am really excited about it, but I hope my presence doesn’t make her more nervous.
Wednesday I took the day off of work so that we could do our one on one interview with the social worker. I really feel weird about the whole thing, because I think I should have been more nervous. I guess things have been so crazy at work that I just didn’t think that much about it. I think my interview went well, and I’m sure that D’s did. Our SW also advised during this time that several of our references have not yet made it to her, which, of course, is now delaying our adoption. I was disappointed to hear this and since have requested that our friends and family rush to get these out.
We met our SW (she is a really cool woman) at a local mall and after the interviews were over, Pooh, The Bean, and I went looking through the shops at the mall. There are a ton of really great deals, but we didn’t do any school shopping yet because my latest paycheck was shorted by several hundred dollars (I am battling with the finance section on it, I will win!) Wednesday nights we always watch ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. It has been a tradition for the past couple of summers. The whole family just loves it!
Thursday continued my finance and purchasing dramas at work. Sometimes the bureaucracy of it all makes me feel as if zombies are eating my brain. I was buggin’ so much that instead of my usual breakfast bar lunch, I convinced Dad Nard and a couple of NASCAR fans to go to Chili’s with me… I had recently seen the add showing their new ‘spicy’ menu items and felt it was necessary to give them a try. Lunch went well and although there were major discussions about baseball tractor pulls and muddin’, there was only one mention of NASCAR and a driver referred to as the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ (I was quite certain this was referencing sexual preference and I was thoroughly annoyed.)
Thursday night was the ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ results show. This week it was really easy to identify who the judges would be sending home. We were all really happy that Anya was finally off, because none of us actually like watching her dance. We are pretty sure that the only reason she stayed so long is because of that middle, crazy-laughing judge kept her in there. My personal favorites are Dominic, Sabra, and Danny.
Yesterday started out pretty well, but boy did it go down hill. I car-pooled with Dad Nard and continued my battle with finance and purchasing (I love the efficiency in how big companies work.) Around lunchtime a friend at work, Doogal, and I enjoyed harassing Dad Nard about scoring a free lunch with the Director of our section. I then settled down to eat my breakfast bar and goof off reading some blogs during my lunch break when I saw the video for Invisible Children. I really recommend watching this. It has confirmed my vow to change many things about the way I live. It also reminded me how important our adoption is to me. I can’t imagine being a parent in these war-torn and AIDS devastated areas of Africa. I really feel for all of the mothers there; I know they must wish daily for a better place for their children, for some kind of hope for a future for all those beautiful children. I also during this time came across several blogs referring to the difference between adoptive parents and ‘adopters’. I guess that I am lucky that I have not often run into ‘adopters’, though I may have read a few questionable blogs.
Well, after watching the IC video and reading some blogs is when D called to let me know that we had been hit by a major power surge in our house, and much of our electronic equipment appeared to be fried. This did not have a major affect on me. I am still not all that stressed out about it. My mind keeps wandering back to all of those children in the IC video walking who knows how many miles daily just to find a safe place to sleep. I also think of the fact that so many of them did not appear to have any shoes, or a place to bathe. I am very happy that LAR is now supposedly out of Uganda. I wonder, though, do those children know and do they still walk to town daily to sleep. It is very hard to comprehend the intensity of the evil that caused this whole situation. I will continue to wonder about those children and pray that they will be able to overcome the atrocities that have been inflicted upon them through their young lives.
I am typing this entry to my blog in word, because I currently do not have Internet access. It has been an okay week.
The week started well. Sunday was a beautiful day. Nathan, the middle Nard child, had a small birthday party at Chuck E Cheese on Sunday. After the party, Pooh and I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was good, though, as always, it could not compete with the intricacies of the book. This was a much better movie experience than what I had to endure through Ratatouille.
I went back to work on Monday and was bombarded with endless email. I’m still not sure I have completely read through all of the email I received while on vacation. It doesn’t help that I am currently a member of at least 5 email work groups (not by choice.) My bosses provided me with my priorities very early on Monday. It really stunk because my top priority was to fix a rack of equipment in South Africa. This did not mean that I get to fly to SA to actually work directly on the equipment and figure out what’s wrong. Instead, I am required to attempt to troubleshoot the equipment remotely through a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch that proceeded to fail by the lunchtime of that day. I have been trying to find an adequate replacement for that switch and get it approved through purchasing since that time (I have also been trying to catch up on all of my other duties.) They are currently threatening to send me SA to fix the rack; I feign distress.
Monday evening D got adventurous and made Doro wat and Injera with a side of broccoli. He followed the recipes very closely and the results were so delicious. I have to admit that I am a fairly picky eater and truly expected not to enjoy Ethiopian food, but I was very surprised how scrumptious what I have had so far actually is. I really look forward to finding a local Ethiopian restaurant to try more dishes. Pooh loved it also, but we had to rinse the Doro wat sauce off of the chicken for The Bean to eat it.
Tuesday went through as a blur. That evening D took Pooh to Black on Black Poetry Night at a restaurant in a nearby town. He has been doing that most Tuesday nights this summer. D video tapes it so that I can hear the Poetry that she reads. She actually writes some a pretty amazing poetry and she has no fear when getting up on stage to read it to the large audience at the restaurant. I think it’s really amazing that she has that much confidence at thirteen. I think I would struggle with doing the same and I am thirty. I have asked the Nard’s to allow Leigh to sleepover next Tuesday so that I can go see Pooh give her last reading before we take her back to Kentucky. I am really excited about it, but I hope my presence doesn’t make her more nervous.
Wednesday I took the day off of work so that we could do our one on one interview with the social worker. I really feel weird about the whole thing, because I think I should have been more nervous. I guess things have been so crazy at work that I just didn’t think that much about it. I think my interview went well, and I’m sure that D’s did. Our SW also advised during this time that several of our references have not yet made it to her, which, of course, is now delaying our adoption. I was disappointed to hear this and since have requested that our friends and family rush to get these out.
We met our SW (she is a really cool woman) at a local mall and after the interviews were over, Pooh, The Bean, and I went looking through the shops at the mall. There are a ton of really great deals, but we didn’t do any school shopping yet because my latest paycheck was shorted by several hundred dollars (I am battling with the finance section on it, I will win!) Wednesday nights we always watch ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. It has been a tradition for the past couple of summers. The whole family just loves it!
Thursday continued my finance and purchasing dramas at work. Sometimes the bureaucracy of it all makes me feel as if zombies are eating my brain. I was buggin’ so much that instead of my usual breakfast bar lunch, I convinced Dad Nard and a couple of NASCAR fans to go to Chili’s with me… I had recently seen the add showing their new ‘spicy’ menu items and felt it was necessary to give them a try. Lunch went well and although there were major discussions about baseball tractor pulls and muddin’, there was only one mention of NASCAR and a driver referred to as the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ (I was quite certain this was referencing sexual preference and I was thoroughly annoyed.)
Thursday night was the ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ results show. This week it was really easy to identify who the judges would be sending home. We were all really happy that Anya was finally off, because none of us actually like watching her dance. We are pretty sure that the only reason she stayed so long is because of that middle, crazy-laughing judge kept her in there. My personal favorites are Dominic, Sabra, and Danny.
Yesterday started out pretty well, but boy did it go down hill. I car-pooled with Dad Nard and continued my battle with finance and purchasing (I love the efficiency in how big companies work.) Around lunchtime a friend at work, Doogal, and I enjoyed harassing Dad Nard about scoring a free lunch with the Director of our section. I then settled down to eat my breakfast bar and goof off reading some blogs during my lunch break when I saw the video for Invisible Children. I really recommend watching this. It has confirmed my vow to change many things about the way I live. It also reminded me how important our adoption is to me. I can’t imagine being a parent in these war-torn and AIDS devastated areas of Africa. I really feel for all of the mothers there; I know they must wish daily for a better place for their children, for some kind of hope for a future for all those beautiful children. I also during this time came across several blogs referring to the difference between adoptive parents and ‘adopters’. I guess that I am lucky that I have not often run into ‘adopters’, though I may have read a few questionable blogs.
Well, after watching the IC video and reading some blogs is when D called to let me know that we had been hit by a major power surge in our house, and much of our electronic equipment appeared to be fried. This did not have a major affect on me. I am still not all that stressed out about it. My mind keeps wandering back to all of those children in the IC video walking who knows how many miles daily just to find a safe place to sleep. I also think of the fact that so many of them did not appear to have any shoes, or a place to bathe. I am very happy that LAR is now supposedly out of Uganda. I wonder, though, do those children know and do they still walk to town daily to sleep. It is very hard to comprehend the intensity of the evil that caused this whole situation. I will continue to wonder about those children and pray that they will be able to overcome the atrocities that have been inflicted upon them through their young lives.
Top: Pooh posing with a local Prof McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey.
Middle: The Bean showing her magic skills, Cait laughing.
Bottom: The Bean in her Halloween costume last year (I had to show!)
Last Night was the big Harry Potter book release party at our local book store. We took Pooh, The Bean, and Cait Nard to the party and they all dressed up. Pooh decided that she was Angelina Johnson and donned a back-up Gryffindor robe that we had bought in haste last year after having difficulty completing The Bean’s Hermione costume. The Bean, of course, was Hermione again and quickly advised Cait Nard that she was Cho Chang. I wasn’t overly comfortable with this, but since Cait had not read the books or seen any of the movies it wasn’t a big deal. She was very cute in a Barbie witch costume that The Bean had wore for Halloween back in preschool. All of the girls were disappointed that they did not when the costume contest. I was slightly annoyed when the lady announcing the contest gave me a dirty look when Cait advised her of the character as which she was dressed.
Today we are cleaning house and D has continued troubleshooting all of our electronic equipment. D has fixed The Bean’s PC, the air-conditioning, and the GFI in our kitchen.
Our cable is out which includes our Internet. Our satellite TV is also out. Our projection TV in living-room is still not working, but it is likely that it just needs a few fuses replaced. D’s PC appears to have a problem with the NIC card. All of the DVD players in the house appeared to be non-functioning. We have no idea whether or not the VCR or Wii survived. I have not assisted all that much with the equipment because I do so much of this type of stuff at work. I will, however, help D once the house is clean.
Wish us luck with our fried belongings and please pray for all those beautiful children in need of so much in Africa and other areas of the world.
Today we are cleaning house and D has continued troubleshooting all of our electronic equipment. D has fixed The Bean’s PC, the air-conditioning, and the GFI in our kitchen.
Our cable is out which includes our Internet. Our satellite TV is also out. Our projection TV in living-room is still not working, but it is likely that it just needs a few fuses replaced. D’s PC appears to have a problem with the NIC card. All of the DVD players in the house appeared to be non-functioning. We have no idea whether or not the VCR or Wii survived. I have not assisted all that much with the equipment because I do so much of this type of stuff at work. I will, however, help D once the house is clean.
Wish us luck with our fried belongings and please pray for all those beautiful children in need of so much in Africa and other areas of the world.
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